Average Weather in March in Lapel Indiana, United States

In Lapel, the month of March is characterized by rapidly rising daily high temperatures, with daily highs increasing by 12°F, from 44°F to 57°F over the course of the month, and rarely exceeding 72°F or dropping below 30°F.

The daily average high (red line) and low (blue line) temperature, with 25th to 75th and 10th to 90th percentile bands. The thin dotted lines are the corresponding average perceived temperatures.

The figure below shows you a compact characterization of the hourly average temperatures for the quarter of the year centered on March. The horizontal axis is the day, the vertical axis is the hour of the day, and the color is the average temperature for that hour and day.

Clouds

The month of March in Lapel experiences gradually decreasing cloud cover, with the percentage of time that the sky is overcast or mostly cloudy decreasing from 57% to 52%.

The clearest day of the month is March 30, with clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy conditions 48% of the time.

For reference, on January 2, the cloudiest day of the year, the chance of overcast or mostly cloudy conditions is 60%, while on August 23, the clearest day of the year, the chance of clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy skies is 70%.

Precipitation

A wet day is one with at least 0.04 inches of liquid or liquid-equivalent precipitation. In Lapel, the chance of a wet day over the course of March is very rapidly increasing, starting the month at 24% and ending it at 33%.

For reference, the year's highest daily chance of a wet day is 41% on June 26, and its lowest chance is 20% on January 29.

Over the course of March in Lapel, the chance of a day with only rain increases from 18% to 31%, the chance of a day with mixed snow and rain remains an essentially constant 2% throughout, and the chance of a day with only snow decreases from 3% to 0%.

The percentage of days in which various types of precipitation are observed, excluding trace quantities: rain alone, snow alone, and mixed (both rain and snow fell in the same day).

Rainfall

To show variation within the month and not just the monthly total, we show the rainfall accumulated over a sliding 31-day period centered around each day.

The average sliding 31-day rainfall during March in Lapel is rapidly increasing, starting the month at 2.0 inches, when it rarely exceeds 3.7 inches or falls below 0.7 inches, and ending the month at 3.1 inches, when it rarely exceeds 4.8 inches or falls below 1.6 inches.

The average rainfall (solid line) accumulated over the course of a sliding 31-day period centered on the day in question, with 25th to 75th and 10th to 90th percentile bands. The thin dotted line is the corresponding average liquid-equivalent snowfall.

Snowfall

We report snowfall in liquid-equivalent terms. The actual depth of new snowfall is typically between 5 and 10 times the liquid-equivalent amount, assuming the ground is frozen. As with rainfall, we consider the liquid-equivalent snowfall accumulated over a sliding 31-day period centered around each day.

The average sliding 31-day liquid-equivalent snowfall during March in Lapel is essentially constant, remaining about 0.2 inches throughout, and rarely exceeding 0.8 inches or falling to 0.0 inches.

The average liquid-equivalent snowfall (solid line) accumulated over the course of a sliding 31-day period centered on the day in question, with 25th to 75th and 10th to 90th percentile bands. The thin dotted line is the corresponding average rainfall.

Sun

Over the course of March in Lapel, the length of the day is rapidly increasing. From the start to the end of the month, the length of the day increases by 1 hour, 19 minutes, implying an average daily increase of 2 minutes, 39 seconds, and weekly increase of 18 minutes, 32 seconds.

The shortest day of the month is March 1, with 11 hours, 19 minutes of daylight and the longest day is March 31, with 12 hours, 39 minutes of daylight.

The number of hours during which the Sun is visible (black line). From bottom (most yellow) to top (most gray), the color bands indicate: full daylight, twilight (civil, nautical, and astronomical), and full night.

The earliest sunrise of the month in Lapel is 7:00 AM on March 11 and the latest sunrise is 58 minutes later at 7:59 AM on March 12.

The earliest sunset is 6:35 PM on March 1 and the latest sunset is 1 hour, 32 minutes later at 8:07 PM on March 31.

Daylight saving time (DST) starts at 3:00 AM on March 12, 2017, shifting sunrise and sunset to be an hour later.

For reference, on June 21, the longest day of the year, the Sun rises at 6:14 AM and sets 15 hours, 1 minute later, at 9:15 PM, while on December 21, the shortest day of the year, it rises at 8:02 AM and sets 9 hours, 19 minutes later, at 5:21 PM.

The solar day over the course of March. From bottom to top, the black lines are the previous solar midnight, sunrise, solar noon, sunset, and the next solar midnight. The day, twilights (civil, nautical, and astronomical), and night are indicated by the color bands from yellow to gray. The transitions to and from daylight saving time are indicated by the 'DST' labels.

Humidity

We base the humidity comfort level on the dew point, as it determines whether perspiration will evaporate from the skin, thereby cooling the body. Lower dew points feel drier and higher dew points feel more humid. Unlike temperature, which typically varies significantly between night and day, dew point tends to change more slowly, so while the temperature may drop at night, a muggy day is typically followed by a muggy night.

The chance that a given day will be muggy in Lapel is essentially constant during March, remaining around 0% throughout.

For reference, on July 22, the muggiest day of the year, there are muggy conditions 54% of the time, while on January 1, the least muggy day of the year, there are muggy conditions 0% of the time.

Wind

This section discusses the wide-area hourly average wind vector (speed and direction) at 10 meters above the ground. The wind experienced at any given location is highly dependent on local topography and other factors, and instantaneous wind speed and direction vary more widely than hourly averages.

The average hourly wind speed in Lapel is essentially constant during March, remaining within 0.1 miles per hour of 6.6 miles per hour throughout.

For reference, on January 15, the windiest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 6.7 miles per hour, while on July 31, the calmest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 3.8 miles per hour.

Wind Direction in March

The percentage of hours in which the mean wind direction is from each of the four cardinal wind directions (north, east, south, and west), excluding hours in which the mean wind speed is less than 1 mph. The lightly tinted areas at the boundaries are the percentage of hours spent in the implied intermediate directions (northeast, southeast, southwest, and northwest).

Solar Energy

This section discusses the total daily incident shortwave solar energy reaching the surface of the ground over a wide area, taking full account of seasonal variations in the length of the day, the elevation of the Sun above the horizon, and absorption by clouds and other atmospheric constituents. Shortwave radiation includes visible light and ultraviolet radiation.

The average daily incident shortwave solar energy in Lapel is increasing during March, rising by 1.2 kWh, from 3.5 kWh to 4.8 kWh, over the course of the month.

The average daily shortwave solar energy reaching the ground per square meter (orange line), with 25th to 75th and 10th to 90th percentile bands.

Topography

For the purposes of this report, the geographical coordinates of Lapel are 40.068 deg latitude, -85.848 deg longitude, and 850 ft elevation.

The topography within 2 miles of Lapel contains only modest variations in elevation, with a maximum elevation change of 118 feet and an average elevation above sea level of 850 feet. Within 10 miles also contains only modest variations in elevation (177 feet). Within 50 miles contains only modest variations in elevation (906 feet).

The area within 2 miles of Lapel is covered by cropland (97%), within 10 miles by cropland (85%) and artificial surfaces (13%), and within 50 miles by cropland (88%).

Data Sources

This report illustrates the typical weather in Lapel year round, based on a statistical analysis of historical hourly weather reports and model reconstructions from January 1, 1980 to December 31, 2016.

Temperature and Dew Point

There are 4 weather stations near enough to contribute to our estimation of the temperature and dew point in Lapel.

The estimated value at Lapel is computed as the weighted average of the individual contributions from each station, with weights proportional to the inverse of the distance between Lapel and a given station.

Other Data

All other weather data, including cloud cover, precipitation, wind speed and direction, and solar flux, come from NASA's MERRA-2 Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis . This reanalysis combines a variety of wide-area measurements in a state-of-the-art global meteorological model to reconstruct the hourly history of weather throughout the world on a 50-kilometer grid.